The Dragon's Companion
by babi-gurl-chels
Summary: Alys had assumed that having a dragon as a travelling companion would be difficult, that they would argue non-stop or that he would eventually eat her when she began to annoy him, but as it turned out she was wrong.
1. Chapter 1

Alys had assumed that having a dragon as a travelling companion would be difficult, that they would argue non-stop or that he would eventually eat her when she began to annoy him, but as it turned out she was wrong. Well, he _could_ still try to eat her, but she sincerely doubted that he would. Not because he had any hidden feelings for her or he enjoyed her company a great deal, but Alys finally had him figured out. He was _bored._

Dragons live for hundreds of years according to myths Alys had heard whispered in her village – and he certainly wasn't lending any additional information – but what had Selendrile been doing before he became her travelling partner? Flying around and terrorizing villages and towns. He had no vendetta against the humans, no actual reason to attack other then he simply _could_. A few months ago, Alys was sure that that is just what all dragons do, attack, burn, and kill. But now she came to the conclusion that that is just what _bored_ dragons do.

"What's wrong with your face?" Alys' face jerked up in surprise at Selendrile's voice. He hadn't spoken for three days, so hearing his voice so loud had startled her. But not as much as she was when her brown eyes met his amethyst eyes, she found them only inches away, observing her clinically.

"_Oof_." Alys fell off the rock she'd been dozing on and onto the hard ground. Selendrile didn't comment as he watched her stand and begin to rub her hurt bottom, but one glance at his face told her that he desperately wanted to. She recognized the mirth he didn't even bother to conceal and glared at him half-heartedly as she bit out, "Nothing's wrong with my face."

"It was all scrunched up."

"I was thinking. You should try it sometime." One prefect eyebrow rose at her comment, and the corners of his mouth deepened, as though he was holding back a smile.

Alys sighed, and the corners deepened even more. Finally she gave up and, realizing they should probably get moving again anyways, began walking down the practically abandoned road, mumbling something along the lines of "stupid dragons." Hearing his quiet chuckling behind her, she remembered his advanced dragon hearing, and began fuming about that too, stomping ahead of him.

They'd been travelling this way for several weeks now and had yet to reach a town. Just where were they headed anyways? Usually Selendrile just started walking when he was ready and she followed his lead, but she'd never thought to really wonder why. Ever since she'd began following him, he'd lead her from town to town, sometimes with an ulterior motive but most of the time they were simply travelling for the sake of moving. Like she'd already mentioned, he was probably only bored and this was his way of passing the time. But this time he was being really specific. Now he had a destination he wanted to reach. It made her curious. Curious enough to stop stomping and turn around to face him.

"Where're we going?" He blinked at her question, doing a good impression of a human's confused reaction.

"Down this road." It was spoken as though it was completely obvious, which it was when you think about it.

"No," she rolled her eyes, "I mean why?"

"To reach the next town." His eyes stared innocently into hers, succeeding in making her more suspicious.

"What's so special about this town?"

"Absolutely nothing." Her eyebrows rose skeptically. Something she'd picked up from him.

"We haven't been travelling weeks to visit an unremarkable town, right?" It would be just like him to lead them around in circles just to see how long it would take her to catch on for his amusement.

"No, we're going to stay there for a few nights and then move on."

"On? To what?"

"Another unremarkable town." For some reason, they way he said that made her disbelieve this statement even more and her curiosity to spike only that much higher.

Alys huffed, crossing her arms as Selendrile grinned at his own private joke.

"How long until we reach the _first_ unremarkable town, then?" Hoping he wasn't going to say another week until a warm bath and cooked meal.

"If we keep a good pace, we should be there by nightfall."

Surprised by the good news, Alys shot him a bright smile as she quickened her pace. For some reason, for a moment he seemed caught off-balance by her smile but when she looked back half a second later, he had his normal blank expression, so she thought nothing of it as he easily matched her new pace.

A/N: Like it? Hate it? Let me know! Readers feedback always brightens my day. =-)


	2. Chapter 2

The town was named Wall, and was – as Selendrile had warned her – exactly the same as any other town. _Same village, different villagers. _Alys sighed. They easily found the inn, it was the only building that in the whole town besides the church that seemed as though it had more then one room.

Alys hadn't even realized how cold the season was becoming now a days until she walked through the front doors to the inn and was hit by what seemed like a blanket of warmth and shivered in delight. Autumn was almost through now and the nights would only get colder and the days shorter.

"Are you cold?" Selendrile turned towards her, looking adorably confused, something only he could achieve. "Your arms only do that when you're cold."

"No. The warmth feels good. It gave me gooseflesh." She held out her arm for his observation, but instead of understanding, his brow furrowed as he became more confused.

"If it happens when you're cold _and_ when you're warm, does that mean that's how it always should be?"

Alys didn't really know how to respond, but luckily a woman walking briskly towards them the next moment saved her from answering.

"What can I do for you two?" She was lean, and probably very pretty in her younger years, but now she was stuck with a fading beauty and no laugh lines to show for it.

"A room for me and my cousin, please ma'am." Selendrile put a little extra charm into his voice, and one glance revealed he was also smiling flirtatiously at the older woman, who seemed to enjoy the attention a little too much. She practically simpered and Alys couldn't choose between giggling or gagging, so instead she stood silently by as the innkeeper appraised her.

"Cousins. I don't see the resemblance." The innkeeper sneered, unkindly, before she shrugged and faced Selendrile with a pleasant expression. "Luckily, I have my best room available for you too. I'll have Sara, my daughter, show you the way." And before the woman had a chance to even call out to fetch her daughter, a pretty young girl probably around sixteen with bouncy curls and big blue eyes was standing at her side, staring at Selendrile and blushing. _Same thing in every town. _

"Follow me this way please." The girl batted her eyelashes at the boy-dragon, before turning and leading to the biggest room. Sara followed them in to "make sure it was okay," which was really just an excuse to flirt with her 'cousin,' before heading out with an "I'll be happy to help with _any_thing else."

As soon as they were alone, Alys sent Selendrile a hopeless look. "Why do you insist on flirting with these poor women?"

"Why does it matter?" He grinned, teasing her. "Jealous?"

"Of what? They are like lambs to the slaughter."

His grin grew feral at her scathing tone. "Interesting choice of words."

She rolled her eyes, and said in a despairing voice, "You're despicable."

He mocked her tone, "And you're jealous."

OoOoO

"How long will you be staying in town?" Sara asked as she refilled Selendriles mug for the fourth time since they'd come down for dinner, bending over more the probably necessary. Alys, who had yet to receive one refill, sat grumbling in her chair as Selendrile smirked in her direction.

"We'll be leaving tomorrow around mid-day." Alys perked up, this was the first good news she'd heard since they'd arrived. It was annoying how the women here oogled Selendrile like he was a piece of meat they'd like to devour, instead of the other way around.

"Oh no! Do you think post-pone your travelling for one night? Our towns having its annual festival tomorrow night, to celebrate the coming of winter. It would be wonderful fun if you could go." It had been so long since she'd been to a festival…

"We should stay, _cousin,_ it sounds like fun!" Both Selendrile and Sara turned to look at her; one in amusement, one in annoyance.

"Alright," Selendrile stated in a bored voice, "I guess we're staying."

A/N: My story received no love, but I'm going to continue updating while the ideas fresh in my head and I've got the time. If you have three seconds to spare, review and make me feel like this isn't a waste of time, energy, and space.


	3. Chapter 3

"_Oh!"_ Alys's face flushed red as she bit her bottom lip and quickly turned her head away, embarrassed. Alys was glad they had decided to stay for an extra night, the town looked completely different now all lit up and smiles on everyone face. The food was good, the fires warm, and the musicians talented. She missed this. She now stood on the edge of the dance floor next to Selendrile just enjoying the night and surveying the crowd when she'd accidentally spied the young couple dancing just off to the side. She could just hope that Selendrile didn't—

"You're uncomfortable."

--notice. So much for that, the dragon noticed everything she didn't want him to and was oblivious to everything she wished he'd get without her having to say. Figures…

"No, I'm not." Alys disagreed, stubbornly. And when she turned to look him in the eye she saw him staring at the young couple she had spied just moments before.

"Because of them?" He asked, disbelief coloring his tone as he stared at them unabashed, as she watched on in horror.

"Stop looking." She hissed, feeling her cheeks heat up as more blood flooded them. Now he looked at her like _she_ is the crazy one. Maybe she is…

"That's making you uncomfortable?" She wished he would just stop, but knew better. When she reacted in what he thought was a weird way, he'd want to know why and would have no problem annoying her until she finally told him why. She'd learned that the hard way.

"It's called _kissing_." Alys blushed, not believing she was actually explaining this to him. Even she, a naïve, young tin-smiths daughter knew what it was, but apparently it wasn't big among dragons. "It's a… well, a way a couple shows affection for each other."

He blinked at her, looking completely innocent, and stated confidently "It's like mating."

"Mating?" Her jaw dropped and her poor face was now beet red as she stammered, "No-no! It- It's not _that_." She closed her eyes as she explained. "It's um… showing another person that you" she had to force out the word through clenched teeth "desire them."

He was mercifully silent and she waited until her face returned to almost its normal color before she gathered her courage and opened her eyes. Selendrile was grinning down at her, his beautiful eyes laughing.

"W-What?" She was suddenly wary of what he was thinking, which could be the only explanation for why his smile made her knees weak.

"_You_ kissed me."

It hit her like a ton of bricks. Alys prayed that if God had ever even once loved her that he would strike her down now, to save her form answering. She waited for several long moments, but nothing happened.

"That… was different." She responded finally when she was sure God wouldn't help her.

Selendrile kept on grinning.

"I only did it to ensure you that I would be back; I didn't want you to worry."

His face was now a perfect mask of naivety, something she was beginning to doubt. "So it would appropriate for me to kiss you here? To reassure you?" He took a bold step towards her.

Blushing she stumbled backwards. "_No_, it would not. Not here."

"Because it shows affection," his grin widened, "and desire." Alys wanted so bad to smack that insufferable smirk off his face, but resisted. She didn't have time to a broken hand right now.

"Because I don't need any reassurance." She ground out.

"Ahh." His face showed he felt like he'd just won a battle between them. Which, in a way, he did.

"Why do you care about this so much anyways?"

"I don't." He responded in a flippant way.

Alys glared. "Then why all the questions?"

"It's just funny too see to watch you face turn red all the time. The best times are when you're angry and when you're uncomfortable." He studied her for a moment, before smiling his dragon smile. "Lucky for me, now you're _both_."

Before she could attack him, even though he probably wouldn't feel it it would make her feel better, Sara came running up.

"Selendrile, you have to dance at least once with me!" Pulling his arms towards the dance floor, and he went grudgingly.

Alys didn't speak with him after that for the rest of the night. But the music was catchy and once she was asked to dance by a blushing local boy she never had a shortage of partners. By the time the fire died and she crawled into her straw bed early the next morning, she found she was no longer angry with her dragon. Instead she fell into a deep sleep, exhausted.

After all, one silly kiss from one silly human girl meant nothing to a dragon right?

A/N: So what do you guys think? I know the plot has gone absolutely nowhere yet, but I don't want to rush it, since I've been known to do that in some of my previous stories. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, it made my day to know that people read my story and actually liked it! Would it be completely selfish of me to ask you to do so again? Oh well! Please review and I'll update a.s.a.p!

'Til next time!


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